Kendrapara blood donor battles anaemia 

KENDRAPARA: HE has donated blood 114 times and saved the lives of nearly 342 patients through his selfless service. Now the donor, Ananda Prasad Mallick of Kadalibana village in Kendrapara district, is in need of blood himself. His blood group is O positive.

The 52-year-old landless blood donor is battling severe anaemia after his haemoglobin levels plummeted to 7 gm/dL (grams per decilitre) against 12.4 gm/dL, the normal permissible limit for male.

Ananda Prasad has been donating blood every three months for the past 30 years. He first donated blood to save the life of a child in his village when he was only 22 and ever since he kept the supply chain continues. 

Residing in a three-room thatched house with wife, two sons and two daughters, Ananda Prasad said he was suffering from piles and as a result, he lost a lot of blood. “Blood loss due to piles is the main reason for fall in haemoglobin level. He used to donate blood every 90 days though he was suffering from piles,” said Dr Gadadhar Mallick of Pattamundai.

Dr Mallick said though he was advised against donating blood due to low haemoglobin level, he did not heed. “I had a dream to donate blood till the age of 70. But the doctors recently advised me not to donate blood due to the low haemoglobin,” said Ananda Prasad.
Honoured by several organisations, Ananda Prasad now hopes people will come forward to save his life.